Suebi/Strategic Overview
Strengths *Strong defensive faction, with good melee infantry and light cavalry, but very technologically backward. *Not metal-dependent. Weaknesses *Severely limited tech tree, especially with regards to more advanced weapon systems and Influence and Agronomic upgrades. *Best units are dependent on Influence and Wealth, impinging on the Suebi ability to culturally advance. *Lack of armour makes Suebi vulnerable to archer civs. While it is true that most Germanic nations have been tribes brought to the size of principalities through the virtues of their chieftains, the Suebi are said to be the most warlike and expansive of all factions. And perhaps for good reason, for the lands of the Germans are heavily forested and underdeveloped, condemning the Germanic tribes to subsistence farming, hunting, foraging or even raiding their neighbours to survive. As such, the Suebi are a highly defensive race, equipped with units that are specialist in forest warfare. Food can be extracted from forestry activity, as long as your citizens are working on gathering timber. Equally, your first Senate is also built for free and instantaneously, making it easy to set your capital where you need it. Suebi units tend to sacrifice armour ratings in favour of cost and attack strength — perhaps, for some units, drastically so. Even so this lack of armour is not always a genuine handicap — with sufficient skill, you can use the fast-moving Suebi units, and their ferocity to ambush unsuspecting opponents from the cover of your own borders, since your units will heal and be cloaked whilst being in your territory. Thus, Suebi units are highly ideal for the kind of ambush tactics that characterised the early Iron Age Germanic tribes. In addition, stealthy units such as the Skaduganganz can be used to raid unprotected settlements outside of your borders and pick off enemy units, such as archers and lighter spearmen, given that they can move undetected most of the time. Technology-wise, however the Suebi aren't so impressive. Being a hunter-gatherer society with little to no social organisation like the Sarmatians, they aren't able to fully utilise the Granary, nor can they muster as much influence as other factions can in order to fuel the expansion of their empire, especially with regard towards cities. However, who needs Administrative research if you are able to seize cities from your opponents? if you can generate Food from your Logging Camps and by raiding your enemy's Farms or even killing their Citizens, who needs fancy Latifundia or Irrigation Projects? the sheer offensive power of some of the Suebi units means that raiding your neighbours is thus an ideal proposition. If there is one area that hurts the Suebi most, it is that they lack proper Supply. No Supply Depots and Military Logistics means limited ability to resupply, and your units also are more subceptible to attrition. A good faction with extensive border defence and/or good missile units, such as Numidia, can easily handle the Suebi threat, using ranged units and attrition to deter and then wear Suebi armies down where possible. With this regard, the Suebi suit aggressive-minded rush strategies where most Influence generated from the Assembly is dumped primarily into Military research to create a larger and more powerful army in order to seize more cities from your neighbours. Use yours free spawning Scouts to seize as much from Ruins as possible, and then prioritise Patronage and Offensive Doctrine. The Patriot units granted by these two Policies can function like Supply Wagons in the field, and the bonuses that they provide (wealth and added attack from the Optimas, influence from the Cultural Centre, and faster City assimilation from the Commander) are all vital towards striking cities hard and offsetting the lack of proper Taxation and Influence upgrades. As for Research, always emphasis Military research over all others, and seek to capture cities rather than build them. Raid your opponents as frequently as possible, do not let them have time or resources to spend on any Upgrades whatsoever, and you should be able to finish them off eventually.